Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Ukraine Invasion: Part 44

981 replies

MagicFox · 20/08/2023 12:43

44th thread, all the usual thanks and appreciation

**

--

  1. Agreed thread guidance:
  1. The agreed purpose of the thread is for the sharing of information and commentary on current events
  1. If you post a link please tell us where it leads/give a precis of the content
  1. Discussion and debate is welcome, but please keep it respectful
OP posts:
Thread gallery
341
Natsku · 24/08/2023 14:11

Happy Independence Day to Ukraine!

Edit: Just testing the edit feature

Igotjelly · 24/08/2023 14:31

DancesWithDucks · 24/08/2023 14:03

Live: Ukraine Telegram

Baykar Makina Company donates Bayraktar TV2 strike UAV to the DIU for Independence Day

📊In July 2022, Ukraine introduced a visa regime with Russia. Since then, only 62 Russian citizens have received visas to enter Ukraine, mostly to reunite with their families.

The UK will recognize the Wagner Group as a terrorist organization within a few weeks, the FT reports, citing sources in the British government.
This decision will effectively ban the PMC under British law, making it a criminal offense to belong to it, encourage its support, provide assistance or use its logo. [seems as if it might not be a pressing matter any more!]

Volodymyr Zelensky held a briefing following the Crimean Platform summit. Main points:
📍On the counteroffensive in the southern direction: "Everything is mined there. Very often, people are walking to avoid losing the scarce armored vehicles. If we had it in reserve, we could take the risk. First of all, people are important, then equipment. [...] No one is complaining, everyone is fighting."
📍Zelensky rejected the idea of redeploying troops from east to south, as some American media reported, citing military experts.
"Does anyone realize how many people there are, how many occupiers there are in the east? Approximately 200 thousand. [...] Let's take our armed forces from there and move them somewhere. But after that, a couple of days, and [the Russians will take] Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, then they will go to Pavlohrad, Dnipro, cut off the banks. But we will not allow this, and let all the analysts in the world not even count on it."
📍On more intensive mobilization. "To be honest, the military asked me to do this to give them the opportunity to mobilize more. I can't tell you anything else. The issue of military registration and enlistment offices, the very important issue of medical commissions at military registration and enlistment offices - we need to speed up the processes as quickly as possible, put things in order, and then start talking about increasing the number of people to be mobilized."
📍 When asked how long Ukraine "can still hold out," Zelensky replied: "We have no chance to do anything else but continue to defend our state and de-occupy our territory. We are fighting for what is ours."

❗️❗️In case of Prigozhin's death, the PMC "Wagner" has developed a plan of action, which is launched immediately, reports the pro-Kremlin Readovka. The mechanism is introduced automatically, what it consists of - it is unknown. The publication's source says that in any case, it will be "very bad news". [Can't say Im holding my breath over it]

The New York Post called https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1694401008326123679 Prigozhin a dissident.
Lol

Alexander Lukashenko congratulated the "brotherly Ukrainian people" on the country's independence day and wished peace to reign on the Ukrainian land.

In Avdiivka, Donetsk region, where approximately 40,000 people lived until 2014, 1,691 people now live. Most of them are elderly, although there are also young people under 30.
These figures were provided by Vitaliy Barabash, head of the Avdiivka city military administration.

❗️❗️Dmitry Utkin, Prigozhin's right-hand man, was also on board the crashed plane, according to the Russian media. [First time I saw this pic I thought it was someone half-way through being made up as an orc extra for a film]

Many small holes can be seen on the downed Prigozhin plane.
The photo was posted by Russian telegram channels. This is what the damage from air defense munitions looks like.

On a lighter note that picture of Utkin makes me think of creepy men, on the wrong side of middle age, who've set up dating profiles to attract unsuspecting women and have 30 of the same incredibly unflattering profile picture Grin

Ukraine Invasion: Part 44
Sandunesandseashells · 24/08/2023 14:39

Tinkerbyebye · 24/08/2023 10:18

@DancesWithDucks

no but it’s not on the app yet. And I understand there’s only a short time you can edit

HQ posted about it a couple of days ago

check the three dots

Not paid. I use my iPad but via the browser, if that helps. 😊

Hillsmakeyoustrong · 24/08/2023 14:56

OK so did Prig think he was in the clear? I don't know how you would skip onto a plane destined for Russia without a second thought?

MagicFox · 24/08/2023 15:39

I just listened to an interview with Sergei Guriev via Gideon Rachman who suggests that Prig was concerned about Africa and may have been lured by the promise of secure high level talks with putin. How can he not have been aware that his card was numbered? 2 months to the day of the coup

OP posts:
MagicFox · 24/08/2023 15:46

Battleground Ukraine have just published an emergency podcast on Prighozin : I'll listen as soon as I'm out of the meeting I'm currently in!

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/battleground-ukraine/id1617276298?i=1000625548543

OP posts:
Greenshake · 24/08/2023 17:11

Jeez, the absolute state of Utkin. Just terrifying.

DesdamonasHandkerchief · 24/08/2023 17:19

From The Guardian:

Putin sends condolences to Prigozhin's family

Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken for the first time since yesterday’s plane crash, sending his condolences to the family of Russia’s Wagner group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, Reuters reports.
Speaking in a televised speech, Putin called Prigozhin a talented businessman and said investigators will look into what happened – but that expertise will take time.

Honestly more front than Blackpool!

blueshoes · 24/08/2023 19:19

Greenshake · 24/08/2023 17:11

Jeez, the absolute state of Utkin. Just terrifying.

There are grizzly photos circulating?

MissConducUS · 24/08/2023 19:39

Will what's left of Wagner retaliate for the assassination of their leadership? It's an interesting question.

https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1694449848169189519

This also makes Lukashenko look weak, having brokered the deal with Putin to let Pregozhin live.

https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1694449848169189519

Greenshake · 24/08/2023 19:45

@blueshoes no, just that awful one of him without a top on. Truly horrible.

Igotjelly · 24/08/2023 20:11

To be honest I’m surprised by the lack of grizzly photos on Twitter (real or otherwise).

blueshoes · 24/08/2023 20:22

Greenshake · 24/08/2023 19:45

@blueshoes no, just that awful one of him without a top on. Truly horrible.

Ah, I see. I had a good chuckle at IgotJelly's cat photos of Divorced Men after 40 on Dating Apps.

blueshoes · 24/08/2023 20:58

MissConducUS · 24/08/2023 18:44

Ukraine has reportedly conducted an armed raid in Crimea, presumably to celebrate Independence Day.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66603644

Will give Ukraine morale a nice boost.

Belated thanks to Desdamona for her link to* *Lawrence Freedman's Ukraine's offensive: is it failing? Worth a read. His view is that the gloom is overdone. It is not fair to judge Ukraine's progress using the lens of US superior fire power and materiel. Ukraine is sensible to not even try taking risks an army would not take had they fought a similar war with Ukraine's limited resources. Ukraine had to adjust tactics following initial losses to smaller scale operations. However, the outcome is still not certain and won't be quick.

https://samf.substack.com/p/ukraines-offensive-is-it-failing?utm_medium=web

DancesWithDucks · 25/08/2023 11:26

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-august-24-2023

Key Takeaways:

  • The Wagner Group will likely no longer exist as a quasi-independent parallel military structure following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s almost certain assassination of Wagner financier Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner founder Dmitry Utkin, and reported Wagner logistics and security head Valery Chekalov on August 23.
  • Putin delivered a brief de facto eulogy of Prigozhin and reportedly deceased Wagner leadership on August 24, and portrayed Prigozhin as his loyal subordinate up until his death, the armed rebellion notwithstanding.
  • The Wagner Council of Commanders have notably not released a public statement following the downing of Prigozhin’s plane.
  • Putin’s almost certain assassination of Wagner leadership has made it very clear that the Kremlin will be outwardly hostile to those that attempt to secure independence for their own parallel military structures.
  • The Russian information space largely refrained from linking the Kremlin and the Russian MoD to Prigozhin’s and Utkin’s assassination.
  • Ukrainian forces advanced closer to the Russian second line of defense in the Robotyne area in western Zaporizhia Oblast on August 24, further widening their breach of Russian defensive lines in the area.
  • Ukrainian Southern Operational Command Spokesperson Captain First Rank Nataliya Humenyuk reported that Russian forces are conducting additional lateral redeployments from Kherson Oblast to the frontline in Zaporizhia Oblast, suggesting that Ukrainian forces have further degraded Russian defensive lines in the area.
  • Russian forces conducted offensive operations along the Kupyansk-Svatove-Kreminna line, near Bakhmut, along the Avdiivka-Donetsk City line, and in western Zaporizhia Oblast on August 24, and reportedly advanced.
  • Ukrainian forces conducted offensive operations along at least two sectors of the front on August 24 and advanced near Bakhmut and in western Zaporizhia Oblast.
Ukraine Invasion: Part 44
DancesWithDucks · 25/08/2023 11:43

Kyiv Independent Telegram

⚡️Media: Raid on Crimea part of ongoing, 'long-term operation.' https://kyivindependent.com/military-intelligence-raid-on-crimea-part-of-ongoing-long-term-operation/
The raid on Russian-occupied Crimea that took place in the early hours of Aug. 24 is not "the story of one day, but a long-term operation," a source in Ukraine's Military Intelligence told Ukrainska Pravda.

Ukrainian forces conducted successful offensive operations in the directions of Melitopol and Bakhmut, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on Aug. 24 https://kyivindependent.com/general-staff-ukraine-advances-in-bakhmut-melitopol-directions/

⚡️WSJ: US officials do not believe air defense (https://kyivindependent.com/wall-street-journal-us-officials-do-not-believe-air-defense-to-be-cause-of-prigozhin-plane-crash/) shot down Prigozhin plane. [They think it] was likely caused by a bomb onboard or "some other form of sabotage," though the officials stressed that their assessments are not yet complete.

⚡️Putin confirms https://kyivindependent.com/putin-confirms-prigozhin-death/ death of Wagner leader Prigozhin. "He made mistakes," said Putin, but he "got the results he wanted both for himself and for the common cause."
https://kyivindependent.com/putin-confirms-prigozhin-death/

⚡️Zelensky: Portugal to train https://kyivindependent.com/zelensky-portugal-to-train-ukrainian-pilots-on-f-16s/ Ukrainian pilots on F-16s.

⚡️Lithuania to provide https://kyivindependent.com/lithuania-to-provide-ukraine-with-44-million-defense-aid-package/ Ukraine with $44 million defense aid package. The package includes ammunition for Carl Gustaf hand grenade launchers, rifles, maritime surveillance radar sets, 5.56 mm caliber ammunition, generators, anti-drone systems, and other equipment.

⚡️Norwegian PM confirms https://kyivindependent.com/norwegian-pm-confirms-f-16-pledge-to-ukraine/ F-16 pledge to Ukraine.

⚡️Germany delivers https://kyivindependent.com/germany-sends-patriot-missiles-to-ukraine/ Patriot missiles to Ukraine in new weapons package. Germany also sent eight new drone detection systems, as well as 40 RQ-35 HEIDRUN reconnaissance drones.

⚡️Pentagon: US to start training Ukrainian pilots https://kyivindependent.com/pentagon-us-to-start-training-ukrainian-pilots-on-f-16s-in-october/ on F-16s in October.

⚡️Norway dedicates $140 million for Ukrainian energy infrastructure. https://kyivindependent.com/norway-dedicates-150-million-for-ukrainian-energy-infrastructure/

Russian security services conducted searches at the homes of Crimean Tatars in the Bakhchysarai district on the morning of Aug. 24, the Crimean Solidarity human rights organization reported. https://kyivindependent.com/ngo-russia-conducts-searches-at-crimean-tatars-homes/

⚡️Media: Satellite images show https://kyivindependent.com/media-satellite-images-show-wagner-camp-in-belarus-being-dismantled/ Wagner camp in Belarus being dismantled.
A camp for Wagner Group fighters in Belarus' village of Tsel near Asipovichy is being actively dismantled, as shown in satellite images from Planet Labs exclusively obtained by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Belarusian service. According to RFE/RL, 101 out of 272 tents in the camp have already been removed. ... it could mean that 2,020 Wagner combatants have left the military base, which used to host 5,000 fighters.

⚡️US sanctions https://kyivindependent.com/us-sanctions-officials-organizations-complicit-in-russias-deportation-of-ukrainian-children/ officials, organizations complicit in Russia's deportation of Ukrainian children. The targets include the Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation, its board member and the Chechen leader's mother Aymani Kadyrova, the Russian government-owned "summer camp" Artek in occupied Crimea, and its director Konstantin Fedorenko.

Why is the Ukrainian flag blue and yellow? Why do we see a black and red flag in Ukraine sometimes?
Learn the history https://kyivindependent.com/everything-you-didnt-know-about-ukraines-flag/ and significance of Ukraine’s flag and its symbols of resistance.

Russia has been settling people from the Russian Federation in occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia Oblast to ensure favorable results in planned illegal sham elections, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on Aug. 25. kyivindependent.com/general-staff-people-brought-from-russia-to-occupied-zaporizhzhia-oblast-to-falsify-elections/

⚡️ Russian attacks kill 5, injure 29 over past day. https://kyivindependent.com/attacks-13/

How do Ukrainians see their country’s future in 10 years?

⚡️H&M to reopen stores https://kyivindependent.com/h-m-to-reopen-stores-in-ukraine** in Ukraine.

⚡️NABU uncovers https://kyivindependent.com/nabu-uncovers-1-6-million-embezzlement-scheme-involving-top-officials/ $1.6 million embezzlement scheme involving top officials. The first deputy minister of agrarian policy and food and a former deputy economy minister were charged with power abuse in the case of embezzling Hr 62.5 million (around $1.6 million) of state funds, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) reported on Aug. 24.
According to the NABU, the officials carried out a scheme involving the purchase of food products at inflated prices by the state railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia.

Ukraine's National Corruption Prevention Agency added the world's leading tobacco companies Japan Tobacco International (JTI) and Philip Morris International to the list of international sponsors of war. https://kyivindependent.com/ukraine-added-two-tobacco-companies-to-the-list-of-war-sponsors/

Ragnar Gudmundsson
■strikes & engangements up,strikes down
■ Troop losses above 7-day average, equipment below
■ Double-digit artillery, vehicle, drone & APV losses
■ Artillery & drones above 7-day average

Ukraine Invasion: Part 44
Ukraine Invasion: Part 44
Ukraine Invasion: Part 44
DancesWithDucks · 25/08/2023 12:00

Live: Ukraine Telegram

Having spent less than 3% of annual U.S. military budget in security assistance, Ukraine managed to cut Russia’s combat capacity in half, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said at a press conference in Kyiv on Aug. 23.
Additionally, he pointed out that U.S. intelligence had made an error ahead of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, greatly overestimating the strength of the Russian army.
“When the Russian invasion began, we were told that Kyiv would fall in four days, and the country — in three weeks,” Graham adds.

Russia has not suspended mobilization and is currently considering an additional 450,000 people, says Defense Ministry's Chief Intelligence Officer Budanov

"This war will end when the United States stops funding Ukraine," says Vivek Ramaswamy, a candidate in the Republican presidential primary.

President Zelensky denied Ukraine's involvement in the crash of Prigozhin's plane and added that everyone understands who was involved.

The Finnish police detained a Russian man suspected of committing terrorist crimes in Luhansk and Donetsk regions from June 2014 to August 2015.
Ukraine has requested his extradition.

As you know, 24 August is Ukraine's Independence Day. Hackers decided to remind Russians of this by playing our national anthem.
The national anthem was played from CCTV cameras equipped with speakers. At some point, in a number of Russian cities, these cameras "rebelled" and the Ukrainian anthem was played.
The russians started to get hysterical
The video began with a "based speech" for the Russians. A voice coming from the cameras reminded them that they lived in a country that was powerful and invincible only on TV.
The anthem of Ukraine was played in Yekaterinburg, Anapa, Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow, Belgorod, Kirov, and Novosibirsk. The video shows employees squirming in cafes, shops, warehouses and service stations.

Beer producer Heineken has exited the Russian market. It transferred its assets to the Russian Arnest Group for a symbolic €1. Heineken had seven breweries and 1,800 employees in Russia.

Ukrainian flag over Berdiansk on Ukrainian Independence Day.
Berdiansk residents sent a video and claim that a Ukrainian flag was flying at a post on the Melitopol highway! It was installed at night, and the occupiers were able to take it down only around lunchtime.

Russian Volunteer Corps (formation of Russian citizens fighting for Ukraine) appealed to fighters of Wagner Group:
"If you have not committed war crimes on the territory of Ukraine, then we suggest you to join our ranks and first finish this bloody meat grinder of the so-called "SVO", and then march to Moscow again, but this time not to stop 200km from the Moscow Ring Road, but to reach the end!
In case you voluntarily switch to the side of Ukraine, the AFU and the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine will guarantee you safety and decent conditions!"

GUR fighters enter a Russian helicopter donated to the Ukrainian Armed Forces by a young Russian pilot. Photo by Artem Shevchenko, one of the fighters and one of the developers of the operation.
The pilot's military unit is located at the Chernihivka airfield in Primorsky Krai, Russia (military unit 13984).
From the very beginning, the officer "understood the criminality and unjustness of the war unleashed by his aggressive state".

The issue of veterans is going to be a very big one.

Ukraine Invasion: Part 44
Ukraine Invasion: Part 44
Ukraine Invasion: Part 44
Ukraine Invasion: Part 44
DancesWithDucks · 25/08/2023 12:41

United24 Media Telegram

The meeting between Erdoğan and Putin is to be held on September 4 in Sochi.
This is reported by Russian media citing a diplomatic source in Türkiye.

⚡️The Armed Forces are on the verge of breaking through the front, — Zaluzhnyi in a conversation with American officials

The Russian S-400 air defense system in Crimea was destroyed with the help of a modified R-360 Neptune cruise missile.
The most important part of the S-400 complex — the "Podlet K1" radar, which provided control of the air situation over the western part of the Black Sea and the territory of the Kherson region — was also destroyed with the help of anti-aircraft missiles.

I will talk to Putin when it is beneficial and necessary, — French President Emmanuel Macron in an interview with Le Point.
Once again, Macron expressed readiness to talk with the head of the Kremlin, "even despite the fact that Russia, as a member of the UN Security Council, is stirring up chaos in the world."

Russian forces are transporting equipment to the frontlines that dates back to the period immediately following World War II
The video shows the tank "Joseph Stalin" — IS-8 (aka T-10), which was produced from 1954 to 1966.

The flag, which was first introduced on August 24, 1991, was brought to the Verkhovna Rada for Independence Day.

Ukraine Invasion: Part 44
MissConducUS · 25/08/2023 14:30

I'm seeing lots of indications that Ukrainian reserve units are being committed to the offensive in the Tokmak area. This is looking more and more like the main push to break Russian defenses and drive to the Sea of Azov. Tokmak is now within range of Ukrainian tube artillery fire.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/25/europe/ukraine-offensive-robotyne-intl/index.html

https://twitter.com/UKikaski/status/1694845226181972379

https://twitter.com/UKikaski/status/1694845226181972379

Fladdermus · 25/08/2023 15:05

Swedish media are reporting that Wagner are preparing to take out Putin and Shoigu (?) as revenge for taking out their leaders. They're planning on marching to Moscow (again). This time with the Russian Legion of Freedom backing them (the Russians currently fighting for Ukraine).

MagicFox · 25/08/2023 15:11

Wtf?!

OP posts:
PerkingFaintly · 25/08/2023 15:26

MagicFox · 25/08/2023 15:11

Wtf?!

+1

PerkingFaintly · 25/08/2023 15:27

I'll believe it when I see it. And even then not for a while.

But I'm sure someone's enjoying stirring that pot.

DancesWithDucks · 25/08/2023 16:07

Wagner's had a lot of its heavy weoponry taken away from it iirc, and the Moscow Rosgvardia has been reinforced and more heavy weoponry brought in.

Prigozhin thought he had a lot of support for his march on Moscow and (so it's thought) the reason he stopped 200km away was because it turned out that support was nowhere near as strong as he thought.

Wagner's lost all elite support, it's lost a lot of strength and it's lost a lot of weopons and Moscow is reinforced.

I don't think they have a snowball in hell's chance and I dont believe it will happen in the first place.